Colorado River

The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, running 1,450 miles from the Rockies in Colorado to the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. The river was charted by several American expeditions during the mid-19th century, and gold and silver strikes drew prospectors to the basin following the 1860s. Several major dams were built between 1910 and 1970.